Jaguars were thought to be virtually extinct in the US but a highly experienced hunter and guide treed and photographed one before it escaped.
“All my dogs took a pretty good beating. They had puncture wounds. … I got to see it in real life, and I’m glad, but I hope to never encounter it again,” he repeated.
Male mountain lions can weigh upwards of 220 lbs while a big jaguar can be over 300 lbs.
Interesting. It may not be related, but something to think about: over the past thirty years we here on The Oregon High Desert have been under an extreme cyclical assault by the Mountain Pine Bark Beetle which has left Cascadia, in particular in the East side, with roughly 750,000 sq mi – an area larger than the “state” of Washington – of dead standing Lodgepole (Jack) pine just waiting to burn from Mt Shasta to Southern Alaska.
What gives me pause with this post is an Oregon State University study released last week shows that due to warmer weather at the higher elevations and a lack of “food” – the beetles only attack live trees – the Mountain Pine Bark Beetle has moved to the higher elevations and is now attacking the White Bark pines, a species unique to Cascadia.
I’m not saying the jaguar is there because the overall atmosphere is warmer and wetter, but it does give me pause.
Good point, the habitat and climate in AZ is changing.